Eric Limer

Watch out pirates, you may not be as anonymous as you think, especially if you upload to the Pirate Bay. Researchers have recently published a tool that lets you get all kinds of data, including location, about some of the most prolific accounts.

Finding out the IPs of people who have downloaded is nothing particularly new, but researchers from the University of Oregon, University of Carlos III in Madrid and others have been keeping a close eye on Pirate Bay uploaders and were able to dig up a bit more info. Now they've published a tool—MYPROBE—that can help anyone peruse the available data, which includes a list of IPs and locations connected to any given account. You can search by top publishers, top ISPs, top countries, or find details about any uploader you choose.

Uploading files is what can really get you in trouble, and it's easy to see how law enforcement would love to be able to single out the biggest distributors of pirated content out there. The researchers have no intent to do anything with this info, and the stuff out there so far is vague enough not to be too dangerous, but it does go to show exactly how public this information is, especially when you're uploading to a big hub like the Pirate Bay. And if you've always wondered where your favorite uploader is based, well, now you can find out. Then again, so can everyone else. [TorrentFreak]